Man fined by state for going bio-diesel

Charlotte man converts car to veggie oil, gets fined by state


by The Associated Press
published June 11, 2007 5:43 am

Charlotte – Thumbing your noise at oil sheiks can cost you in North Carolina.


Bob Teixeira, a Charlotte guitar teacher, took a stand against U.S. dependence on foreign oil last fall and spent $1,200 to convert his 1981 diesel Mercedes to run on vegetable oil. He buys soybean oil in 5-gallon jugs at Costco, which costs him about a third more than diesel.

Despite his good intentions, the state fined Teixeira $1,000 for not paying motor fuel taxes. North Carolina officials also told him that to legally use veggie oil here he'd have to first post a $2,500 bond.
Such penalties have also been levied against other North Carolina drivers whose vehicles were powered by alternative fuels.

"If somebody was going to go to this much trouble to drive around in a car that uses soybean oil, they ought to be exempt" from state taxes, said state Sen. Stan Bingham, R-Davidson, who drives a diesel Volkswagen fueled by used soybean oil that sports a sign reading "Goodbye, OPEC."
Teixeira and other independent-minded drivers may get a break from the state. The N.C. Department of Revenue, which fined Teixeira, has asked lawmakers to waive the $2,500 bond for small fuel users. Also, Revenue officials told Teixeira the department will compromise on his fine.

But the state's not about to drop its taxes on all fuels used in highway vehicles. North Carolina's 29.9-cent tax on a gallon of gas generates $1.2 billion each year to pay for road construction.

"With the high cost of fuel right now, the department does recognize that a lot of people are looking for relief," said Reggie Little, assistant director of the motor fuel taxes division. "We're not here to hurt the small guy, we're just trying to make sure that the playing field is level."

Few states are prepared to regulate new fuels, according to the National VegOil Board, which promotes vegetable oil fuel.

"State offices do not have the forms to appropriately and fairly deal with VegOil, nor the staff to enforce the non-existent forms," said director Cynthia Shelton. "So either they tell people inquiring about compliance to get lost, or they make them jump through a bunch of arbitrary hoops."
North Carolina has taken steps toward alternative fuels in official vehicles, with lawmakers in 2005 ordering state agencies to replace 20 percent of their annual petroleum use with alternatives by 2010. Ethanol can be used now in about 6,000 of the state's 8,500 vehicles and the state fleet also includes about 135 gas-electric hybrids.

N.C. Department of Revenue officials noticed Teixeira last month near Lowe's Motor Speedway while they were checking fuel tanks of diesel RVs for illegal fuel. The bumper sticker on his car that reads "Powered by 100% vegetable oil" grabbed their attention.

"It was like some twist of fate that put me there," he said. "It was like I was asking for them to stop me."

While he believes Revenue officials are simply doing their jobs, Teixeira doesn't think it's fair to lump him in with those who purposely try to avoid fuel taxes.

"Individuals who are trying to do the right thing environmentally cannot and should not continue to take this kind of financial hit," he wrote Gov. Mike Easley.

Teixeira says he'll pay the fine and apply for a state fuel license.
"I'm ready to get myself legal," he said, "and start using vegetable oil again."

 

I would certainly be telling North Carolina to suck wind.....

 

I think we already beet this one to death.


Pun intended!

 

I wonder if South Carolina would take the same approach? Probably...but it wouldn't hurt for him to look into it. Where he's located, he need only find a rental address across the stateline, register the car there and blow a kiss to NC officials with his SC tags.

 

Gee he would be breaking the law, but it is ok because he us trying to stick it to the man, right?

 

How is it against the law to have residence in one state and work in another?

 

sorry I must have interpreted find a rental address as live and work in NC but say you live in SC.h

 

Interesting. I know 3 people riding in veggie mobiles. They paid $800 for the kits and get their oil for free. No one has ever said a thing to them about paying taxes on the waste that they are using for fuel. How anti-environmental can you get? (The state, that is.)

I guess we should just send these heinous lawbreakers to Mexico, or something. Or maybe Brasil, where they use ethanol more than gasoline and are energy independent. They might appreciate the veggie mobilers.

 

They're not sporting bumper stickers advertising the fact, are they?
That's how this guy got caught.

The state legislature would be the place to address the problem. Current law requires fuel tax to be paid on all highway fuels. I'm sure no one even thought of vegetable oil as a highway fuel at the time the law was passed, but now that it has become part of the solution to a major problem, the legislature should certainly consider making an exception.

 

Here is the original thread

http://4042.appcomm.net/4042forums/showthread.php?t=11829&highlight=diesel

 

Yeah, at least one of them has the sticker. But he may not have it tomorrow.

 

That case was in Illinois, the current thread is about a NC case. Don't you know, we have to get all riled up again when it hits close to home! :mrgreen:

Really, the guy seems to have a very positive attitude about the whole thing. The Revenue agents were checking the motor homes at the race track for blue-dyed fuel, sold for off-road use, generally agricultural, and not tax-paid. He had a bumper sticker that caught their attention, and being the conscientious government employees that they are, they had to do their job.

 

Now there's 3 words that don't belong together? If government workers where conscientious and did their job the NIS would have the immigration problem under hand.

 

That is a little unfair, I know there are very conscientious government employees, I think that if you want every immigrant stopped you are going to have to hire an awful lot more government workers (I don't care how big a wall you build).

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is what I had wrote on the other link

My son came over tonight telling me about this same kind of thing happening to our neighbor. That federal agents had came to his house telling him he could not use ihs french fry fuel in his car he had converted because of the tax issue. I always knew he liked to tinker in his garage but had no idea he was working on that he said it came out to about 93 cent s a gallon. It sounds so wrong that someone would not be applauded for attempting to find a better way. I wonder how many more people have been stopped? -------------------------------------------------------------------So maybe your friends might be watched by the feds

 

I worked with one individual that was using the unapproved diesel that was dyed blue. He did not care that the rest of us had to pay for his road use, yes he was a *****.

My feeling is that if these folks are getting their fuel for close to free they are getting a benefit already.

 

Well, we all want good roads to drive on, but it would be nice if somebody else had to pay for it instead of us. :mrgreen:

 

Betcha the government finds a way to tax and fine people that are using solar, wind, or whatever else power. Why do they not have a cost to maintain channels in Navigable waterways?

 

They do but it is a federal issue due to the interstate issues of navigable waterways.

[SIZE=-1]www.wvbar.org/BARINFO/Research/tax%20dept/[/SIZE]

 

Link does not work. Nobody debated that it was a federal issue of taxation or not, but the government does not tax sailboats based on the number of miles that the wind carries said boat. I am sure they would figure out a way if you put wheels on it and sailed it down the road.